In memories, sense amplifiers are used to detect the state of a memory cell. In many cases, this is achieved by detecting a voltage differential. Such voltage differential can be quite small. A sense amplifier must quickly be able to detect such a voltage differential which implies a high gain amplifier. In CMOS, gain has been enhanced by taking advantage of active load devices. Current mirror techniques have been used to advantage in this regard. In current mirror circuits, there is a current path established by the reference, or master, portion of the current mirror. One of the purposes in using CMOS is reduced current drain. Because sense amplifiers are used repetitively in a memory, wasted current in the sense amplifiers can be particularly significant.